So what do you do when your candidate blows a gaffe. A pro explains (VIDEO)

Denver— The most freaked-out people watching a presidential debate are the handlers. The communications folks/flaks/press secretaries/strategists who spent weeks game-planning the debate, crafting the zingers, mapping out every moment.

But you can’t plan for everything.

So what do you do when your candidate blows a gaffe? What do you say? We, at SF Chronicle/SFGate.com’s Shaky Hand Productions asked former Bill Clinton aide Dee Dee Myers — who has watched a debate from that vantage point — what it’s like. Interesting note: She didn’t see the infamous moment — in real time, at least — when former Prez George H.W. Bush looked at his watch in the 1992 debate. But later when she did, she knew it was huge.